Thomas White is Smarter than You

In a recent opinion column, Superintendent Thomas White of Spartanburg District 7 made his position very clear: he is very smart and deserves to make choices about where his children attend school. You on the other hand, the parents and taxpayers of South Carolina, aren’t as bright and don’t deserve the same for your family.

Nevermind that White is a public servant, chosen by democratically elected officials.

Nevermind that White puts bread on his table through a government salary, financed by your hard earned tax-dollars.

And nevermind that as a public school administrator White’s job is merely to implement and orchestrate public policies, not to use his public position to advocate or author them.

No, White is still smug enough to waste ink on the pages of the Spartanburg Herald Journal belittling the grassroots advocacy of low- and middle-income families who want to enjoy the same privileges that wealthy families already have: equal access to a wide range of effective classrooms for their children.

Taking home $150,000 in salary (plus a $10,000 annual auto stipend and $8,000 in conference travel expenses) White can afford a wide range of options for his children and grandchildren. They can choose among traditional public schools, private schools, charter schools, magnet schools and homeschooling. That means these children can be perfectly matched with a teacher, classroom, curriculum and instructional style that fits their unique learning needs.

Not all parents in South Carolina enjoy this luxury.

Many low- and middle-income families find themselves frustrated with their local one-size-fits-all public school. Perhaps they object to the way the school teaches controversial social issues or feel their child is not receiving an appropriate amount of personalized attention. Maybe they are simply disappointed with the persistently low test scores that characterize most South Carolina public schools. Whatever their motivation may be, if these parents -who are clearly engaged in their student’s education- choose to withdraw their child from the local public school, then they will suffer the financial burden of both paying for public schools (through taxes) and paying for independent school tuition because of public school shortcomings.

Adding insult to injury, when parents make this choice, the public school (already receiving an average of $11,000 per student) actually saves money since most of its funding is not child-based.

But White doesn’t care. Lacking perspective, he stubbornly holds that public schools are the same as “public education.” He ignores the popularity and success of school choice in the form of HOPE, LIFE and Palmetto Fellows Scholarships. He argues that engaged parents who make responsible choices about their children’s futures deserve no support.

White is in no position to make these claims. In fact, based his own District’s performance, he is in no position to be chastising parents who advocate for choice.

Despite $15,980 in per student funding this year, White’s Spartanburg 7 public schools earned an average SAT score that was 166 points behind the best public schools in North Carolina and 57 points behind top public schools in Georgia. There are also three persistently failing schools in his district.

Superintendent Thomas White needs to focus his time and resources on improving the public schools in his district, not abusing his public position chastising less-wealthy parents who yearn to enjoy the same option his children and grandchildren take for granted.

4 responses to “Thomas White is Smarter than You”

We need people in these possitions that care about our children’s education and appreciate the trust we put in them. Eliminate this possition and give the money to the teachers. That is where we need it.

Choice is and will always be the American way, regardless, of governmental institutionalized educational policies. The fact of the matter, is it is our money and we should be allowed the right to use it in the best interest of our children. The purpose of a general state education is to teach the constitution for an enlightened electorate. Public education neither teaches or practices these rights of the sake of government employment. Why would a gov;t employee promote competition. Monopoly is job security.

I am not surprised. Democrats usually think that government knows what is better for you, more than you do. That is why they feel they must take your earnings from you using the instrument of taxes in order to spend for you. Doing so, to control your life in areas that they feel you are most ignorant, like education for instance.
Government by nature is a monopoly with socialist tendencies. Monopolies in almost all cases render poor value, poor service and high cost with a condescending attitude to let you know there is nowhere else to go.
It is strange that homeschoolers spend far less than 11,000 to educate a whole family much less one student. These schooled at home children for the most part, score higher on SAT and ACT scores than their public friends.